Celebration of Friendship
by Somos Pollo
Summary: Tyler/Val friendship story. Maybe it'll get you into the Holiday spirit. Short n' sweet.


Reposted from an old pen name

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Celebration of Friendship

A/N: Just a short little friendship piece. In response to Makatibird's holiday challenge. I might start a Celebration of Friendship series later if you guys like it. Maybe focus on the friendships of the other characters. Review and let me know. I'm working on a bunch of stuff right now, but this was one of those ideas that just wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote it. And yes, I know they didn't know each other in kindergarten.

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Kindergarten:

"Okay class, we have a new student. His name is Tyler." Helen Vanklien said. None of the kindergartners could pronounce Vanklien, so they called her Mrs. V. Or sometimes just Mrs. Except for Val. Helen Vanklien smiled as she thought of the perky blonde. She was very advanced for a six-year-old. And sweet. But she insisted on calling her Mrs. Vanklien. Little Val made sure to pronounce every word perfectly. It was spaghetti, not pasghetti. Tyrannosaurus Rex, not T-Rex. Dinosaur, not dino. She was very helpful, always reminding all of her classmates of the correct pronunciation. She was outgoing and always willing to lend a hand.

Mrs. Vanklien decided that Val would be the perfect student to show Tyler the ropes. Outgoing little Val would be great at helping Tyler make new friends and get settled in his new school. "Tyler, why don't you work with Val right now. We're painting. Val's right there, with the pink ribbons in her hair."

Val waved to show Tyler who she was and he shyly walked over. "Hi. I'm Valerie Alexandria Lanair. But everyone calls me Val." She grinned, showing her dimples, pigtails bouncing. "What's your name? Where are you from? Did you just move here? What's your favorite animal?" She paused with her rapid-fire questions and gave him a chance to answer. 

"I'm Tyler Connell. I just moved here from California. We just got here a few days ago. I don't have any friends yet. And hippopotapotamuses."

"Cool, California. I'll be your friend."

"You will?"

"Yeah. You look friendly. Friends?" She held out her hand.

He shook it happily. "Friends."

"Don't you mean hippopotamus?" She asked, referring to the previous conversation. 

"That's what I said. Hippopotapotamus."

"No. Hippopotamus. You added too many potas. There's only one pota in hippopotamus."

"Yeah, but my way is more fun to say." He said smugly. "Try it."

"Well, okay. I'll try. Hippo-pota-potamus." She started out slowly. "Hippopotapotamus. Yeah, that is fun to say."

"I told you."

Val smiled. Her new friend was a lot of fun. Especially for a boy. "Let's paint one. Mrs. Vanklien said we could paint anything we want. Let's paint a hippopotapotamus."

"Okay." They grabbed the paints and brushes and got to work. They carefully turned the plain white paper into a masterpiece. There was a gray hippo standing by a watering hole, surrounded by flowers, the sun shining down on him. They two paint-covered kindergartners stood back to examine their work.

"Perfect," they said together.

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Ten Years Later:

"Just go, Tyler. We'll finish cleaning up here." Hank ordered. They were cleaning up from their Christmas party at the station. Val was really sick, so she was home in bed. She was upset about missing it, so Tyler had promised to stop by after the party and bring her some dessert. He grabbed a chocolate pie and started out the door to her house.

"Hey, Val." Tyler said stepping into her room. He spotted Val buried under a thick blue comforter and countless pillows. She was sipping a mug of hot tea and a book was lying open on her lap. She opened her mouth to speak but was silenced by a gently finger on her lips. "Shh. Don't talk. You need to rest your voice so you can get better."

She glared at him, and he laughed. "Hey, hey. I just want you to get better, you know. There's too much paperwork to do without you around."

"Glad I'm good for something," She whispered hoarsely, sipping her tea. Only her glaring eyes were visible around the large mug.

"Okay, okay. You're good for more than just paperwork. You and Brooke are the only ones who can work the coffee maker."

"Very funny." She whispered, glaring still. But the corners of her mouth gave her away as she bit back a grin. 

"Well, I know you're upset that you missed the Christmas party, so I brought a little bit of it back with me." He handed her a piece of chocolate pie, which she gratefully accepted. "The rest of it is in the refrigerator." She whispered her thanks and started digging in.

"I know everybody else is giving you their presents later, but I wanted to bring you yours tonight. I thought maybe it would brighten your spirits a little bit." He said once she was finished, grabbing a very large bag from just outside of her bedroom door.

"Tyler, you shouldn't have." She said as he handed her the bag. She reached inside and pulled out a giant stuffed hippopotamus. She looked at him quizzically. "It's adorable, but…" Her eyes widened as he pulled another wrapped package from behind the door.

"You don't remember?" He asked, smiling.

Her eyes locked with his in recognition and her jaw dropped slightly. He handed her the large, thin package. She ripped the paper off, her eyelashes dampening as she blinked back tears. "Hippopotapotamus." She whispered, eyes fixed on the simple painting. Tyler had framed the kindergarten artwork, preserving the memory in a thin layer of glass and a simple, but beautiful black frame. 

"Oh, Tyler. How? When?" He sat down on the bed beside her and she enveloped him in a hug.

"Well, I wanted to give you something special, to celebrate our friendship. We've known each other for ten years. In fact, we've been friends for ten years today. I found my mom's old day planners and I saw where she had written, _Tyler's first day of school at Kingsport Elementary_. I thought back to that day and remembered a certain pact with a certain Valerie Alexandria Lanair. Mrs. Vanklien gave the picture we painted to me instead of you because it was my first day. I went up to the attic and found it. My mom's a pack rat. We keep most everything. I found it and had it framed for you. I decided it was your turn to have it. It's a symbol of our friendship."

"Tyler, thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me." She whispered as she gave him another hug. "Tell you what. To make sure we never forget this friendship we have, we'll switch off every ten years. In ten years, I'll give it back to you, and we'll make sure we never loose touch with the friendship."

"Sounds great. What we have is too important to loose." She was suddenly reminded of just how tired she was. She rested her head on Tyler's shoulder and drifted off into a peaceful sleep, dreaming about friendships and hippopotapotamuses. 

*END*

A/N: Yeah, yeah. It's short, I know. This just came to me late at night on Christmas day. I know we need more holiday fics, so here is my Christmas contribution. I wrote this as just a single little feel-good piece. No sequels. Not yet, at least. But let me know if I should make Celebration of Friendship into a series that celebrates the friendships of all the characters. Maybe a Brooke-Nick. Or a Brooke-Val. Or Jamie-Caitie or something. Not a romance, though. I think I want to follow the flashback past to present layout. Send me your ideas and I'll promise to give you credit in the authors note if I use your idea. I'll be looking foreword to reading your thoughts and ideas. 


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